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Stitch passes time

Tristan WheelerManjimup-Bridgetown Times
Organiser Anne Dost in front of the completed quilt.
Camera IconOrganiser Anne Dost in front of the completed quilt. Credit: Manjimup-Bridgetown Times

A group of Bridgetown quilters have found a way to pass the pandemic by taking part in a quilting project co-ordinated by Anne Dost from Sew Gentle Era.

Each participant contributed a minimum of one square, which Mrs Dost fashioned into a quilt that now hangs on the shop wall.

“I probably put it together in about three weeks,” she said. “It’s been six months in the making, collecting all the fabrics and making some houses of my own.”

The idea to create the quilt came in March, as the COVID epidemic began to impact the South West.

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“I had a few days back in March, a week before I closed the shop due to COVID, and was really struggling with where my business was going to go,” Mrs Dost said. “I knew that people were also struggling with what was going on in the world.

“I know for me stitching brings people together and it’s a comfort to do it, and I thought we needed something positive to focus on, and I was racking my brain, thinking about what I could do.”

With a free pattern provided by her supplier, Mrs Dost began to provide low-cost packs of fabric to locals, on the proviso they would return a square for the quilt.

“I asked that people name them or attach a message to them, so I put all of that together and got it quilted and finished,” he said.

Mrs Dost said about 20 people participated in the program. “It was a really lovely thing and it did bring people together and we were really grateful that we had the free pattern to run with,” she said.

“Community is so important in these hard times, and it was a really positive thing to do.”

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